City of Powell River is using a new online tool to engage with its residents. Participate Powell River can be found online at participatepr.ca.
At the November 5 committee of the whole meeting, city director of economic development and communications Scott Randolph outlined Participate Powell River and its intended function for the city.
He said in late August and early September of this year there were internal discussions about tools that have been used in the past to engage with the public and whether there were better options available.
“Thanks to a suggestion from senior planner Daniella Fergusson, we started to take a look at a platform called EngagementHQ, which is a service by a company called Bang the Table,” said Randolph. “This online platform is specifically designed for municipalities to engage with the public and it provides the city with the opportunity to not only gather input from residents, but allows them to ask questions and keep up to date on specific projects and initiatives.”
The engagement tools available under the platform include several components. These include forums, which is a space for dialogue, discussion and debate; ideas, which provides virtual post-it notes for individuals to add their ideas to a collective board; places, a simple way for community ideas and input directly on a digital map; stories, which allows people to share a story on a particular idea or initiative, if they want to share a longer version of something of their personal experience; guestbook, which allows individuals to upload comments on a topic; and questions, which allows people the opportunity to ask questions directly, whether in a public forum or directly, to a project leader.
The online utility also features polls and surveys.
People have to register for use of the site and can do so anonymously, according to Randolph. All that is provided is an email address and a username.
“The email address is not shared with anyone or made public,” said Randolph. “It’s just there if we need to contact people who want to receive updates.”
The city is holding a photo contest and the parks, recreation and culture department has provided some one-day passes which will be given away to the winners.
The current homepage of the Participate Powell River site includes the regional child-care planning project, the wastewater treatment plant, where residents want bike racks, plus the city’s curbside program for garbage pickup. There is also a brainstorm section and a link to the photo contest.
Randolph said platform is widely used throughout BC and the world.
“We’re really happy with what we’ve seen so far,” said Randolph. “We’ve checked with some of the communities that use it and they are positive about the experience, and they’ve given us a heads-up on some of the pitfalls we might be aware of as we go along with this. This will provide us a good opportunity to provide an additional avenue for people to provide feedback to the city and ask questions.
“Not everyone can get to a public event. Not everyone feels comfortable standing at a microphone and asking a question or making a comment, so this provides them with an anonymous manner to provide input to the city. This helps to improve upon our engagement in a great way.”
Randolph said with the comments section, there are rules of engagement. This service provides 24/7 moderation services on the comments section, so bullying and harassment is avoided. He said the moderator is a human, not an algorithm.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway, who holds the city’s communications portfolio, said she was impressed with the platform. She signed up right away online and likes the fact that it is monitored by a human. She said if people have questions, she is encouraging them to go to participatepr.ca, ask their questions and they will be answered by somebody who has the answers.
“It’s a great platform and congratulations to the communications people that put this together,” said Hathaway. “I’m very much impressed.”
Randolph encouraged the public to register for Participate Powell River.
“We want to hear from people,” he said. “We want people involved and to be part of the conversation, and asking questions they have to get the information they are looking for.”
